Teacher Education Program

Dr. Joseph Rogan teaches a class.

Since its inception in 1924, Misericordia University has prepared thousands of excellent teachers for our nation's classrooms. Most of our first graduates became teachers; the TED is currently one of the University’s largest programs.

Structure

The College of Professional Studies and Social Sciences (CPSSS) and its Teacher Education Department (TED) sponsor undergraduate majors in Early Childhood/Special Education Program, which eventuates in two new state certifications (Pre-K to Grade 4 and Special Education); the state’s new Middle Level Education Program (Grades 4-8) with a selection of five content area concentrations including Math/Science, Math/English, Math/Social Studies, Science/English, and Science/Social Studies; and five areas of Secondary Education
(Grades 7 – 12) with Biology, Chemistry, English, History (Citizenship), and Mathematics.

At the graduate level, the Teacher Education Department sponsors several programs including Instructional Technology Specialist (K – 12), English as a Second Language (K - 12), Reading Specialist (K – 12), Supervisor of Instruction and Curriculum, and two Special Education Programs – Elementary (Pre-K to 8) and Secondary (7 – 12).

Success Rates

All of the University's teacher education programs have been reviewed and approved by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Our program completers are candidates for Pennsylvania’s Instructional I Certification.

The programs offered by the Teacher Education Department have earned "candidate status" awarded by the prestigious National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), a national accrediting agency affiliated with the Commission on Higher Education of the United States Department of Education.

Additionally, as a prospective student or a person interested in our TED programs, you may be interested in the following facts:

• Our TED was the first program in the state reviewed and accredited under PDE’s 2001 standards and among the first accredited under its 2010 guidelines.

• All of our programs are founded on the University’s respected liberal arts core program, where they develop critical thinking skills in rigorous coursework in Composition and Literature, Psychology, Sociology, Mathematics, History, Fine Arts, Philosophy, Science, and Religious Studies. Within the core, students develop professional writing and technology competencies.

• Our Early Childhood and Special Education Programs are combined, thus allowing students to complete two state certifications during their four years at the University.

• Our Middle Level Program and our Secondary Level Program can be combined with our graduate level Special Education Programs to allow students to economically complete two certifications.

• Our Middle Level Program and our Secondary Level Program students who combine Special Education at the graduate level are considered “Highly Qualified Teachers” by the state, a designation that allows them to teach content in special education programs at the middle and secondary levels.

• Our programs focus on diversity, ensuring that our program completers are prepared for the realities of our nation’s classrooms. As freshmen, all of our students complete an urban education experience and all of our methods courses address diversity matters. They complete a full course – Methods for Teaching Students for Whom English is a Second Language – which addresses diversity. Our Middle Level and Secondary Level Program students complete three three-credit courses that address how they can work in regular education with included students with disabilities.

• As freshmen, our students start their field experiences in our area’s public, private, and/or charter schools. During their four years, they complete two field experiences, three supervised course-related practicum experiences, and two supervised student teaching placements. In all, they spend about 750 hours in classrooms. Our students are welcome in every public, private, and charter school in the area.

• The University can arrange student teaching placements in several foreign countries; we have many students who complete one of their two placements in Ireland.

• We directly address teaching and learning with technology. In our curriculum, we have free-standing technology and assistive technology courses and all of our methods courses use technology in various ways. We had the state's first assistive technology lab and we are leaders in the state in developing teachers' assistive technology capabilities. Some of our graduates teach in cyber schools.

• Based on our last several alumni surveys, our graduates feel well prepared to teach and to compete in graduate schools. Additionally, if they had it to do over, 100% or our graduates would return to Misericordia University and would again work to become teachers. The graduates of our graduate program also give us high marks.

Generally, those who complete our program do very well on state-required teacher certification tests. To review our current pass rates for each of our programs, visit the website of the Pennsylvania Department of Education

Teacher Education Pass Rates 2000 to 2012

Year	TED Early Childhood	TED Elementary	TED Special Education	TED Sec ED Biology	TED Sec Ed Chemistry	TED Sec Ed Citizenship	TED Sec ED English	TED Sec Ed Math	TED Funda-mentals
2000	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Not Given
2001	100.00%	94.44%	100.00%	66.67%	No Takers	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%	Not Given
2002	No Takers	93.33%	100.00%	100.00%	No Takers	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%	Not Given
2003	91.67%	86.49%	100.00%	No Takers	No Takers	100.00%	100.00%	No Takers	100.00%
2004	88.89%	89.74%	100.00%	100.00%	0%*	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
2005	100.00%	97.62%	100.00%	100.00%	No Takers	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
2006	100.00%	88.10%	100.00%	100.00%	No Takers	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
2007	100.00%	96.30%	100.00%	100.00%	No Takers	100.00%	100.00%	83.33%	100.00%
2008	100.00%	95.35%	100.00%	100.00%	No Takers	83.33%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
2009	100.00%	85.71%	100.00%	100.00%	No Takers	100.00%	100.00%	No Takers	91.43%
2010	100.00%	80.00%	100.00%	No Takers	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%	66.67%	96.00%
2011	94.12%	61.76%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%	83.33%	100.00%	86.54%
2012	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Praxis has not released 2012 data yet.

*One person took the Chem Secondary Ed test in 2004 and did not pass.

Click here to download the table above as a .pdf

Additional Information

For prospective students and other interested parties who need information on our programs, this site includes complete descriptions of our undergraduate and graduate admission and retention requirements, information about our programs and their curricula, and information about our TED's policies and procedures.

Please browse through our Web pages to learn more about our programs. For additional information, please contact:

Kingsley Banya, Ph.D.
Professor and Chairperson
(570) 674-1488
(570) 675-2441 (Fax)
kbanya@misericordia.edu